All I know Is We Are Moving Forward Together
by grouchydragon
Summary: Being in a war means that every second alive is a wonder, so Lance and Keith don't see the point in planning ahead. But one night, something makes them want to.


Lance had experienced so much.

He'd kissed the love of his life under hundreds of different star systems after hundreds of battles. Lance and Keith used to sneak off after the battle before whatever celebration to spend some time alone. And under stars that were a stranger to them, they would plan for a future that may never come. Each plan would be filled with kisses from both parties. They had left Lance breathless and only increased the beating of his heart. They still did.

Lance had set foot on so many planets. Each one had different, but all were glad to be rid of the galra. The scars left by the empire were deep. Some planets had been stripped of natural resources. Others had been stolen for farmland. Some had lost their cultures.

All of them had lost people to the gladiator rings.

He'd seen the relief of finally being free hit so many different life forms. They could start to rebuild their homes, their lives. They could finally mourn for the fallen. Healing would take time, but every alien race had been more than ready to start.

Most liked to start with a giant party underneath the galaxy; with stars winking as though they knew things the partygoers did not. Lance's grandmother had told him the stars were where the souls of dead loved ones lived. He'd always liked that bedtime story and hoped that ancestors killed by the galra could see their descendents now. The afterlife wouldn't be that great if one had to see their family suffer.

Lance knew he'd rather see his loved ones be whirled around to haunting music surrounded by friends. He hoped that Voltron had given the fallen peace as well as the living.

When the memories of almost dying or being choked in smoke got too much he liked to revisit _those_ memories. They made him feel like the pain had been worth it (pain that screamed in his metal leg when it rained).

But sometimes the past felt too much like a weight on his chest. They'd been fighting a war after all, most memories weren't something Lance would want to relive. The present-day always had its own problems but sometimes it helped to focus on that.

Lance was also trying to get in the habit of thinking about the future too. He'd always known he wanted his life to be an adventure so he made short-term goals to accommodate that. And then he'd just...gone from there.

The one exception was one night after a particularly hard battle. Lance and Keith had done their thing and snuck off to a hill to count the moons in the sky. It was while making up silly constellations that Lance looked at Keith. His eyes were shut tight from the force of his laughter and he was holding on to Lance's arm for balance.

Lance had never seen anything so wonderful.

The realization that he might survive to see that smile every day for the rest of his life hit Lance like a fucking truck. Lance hadn't stopped to consider their future. He'd never been sure that they would even live to have one. But suddenly he wanted it. Maybe it was selfish but fuck it. He and Keith had bled for this universe. They were allowed to dream of a time when they could just, live.

And if the universe had a problem with the fact that Lance really wanted to do so with Keith, then the universe could kindly screw off.

"What's up with you?" asked Keith. "You're being really quiet all of a sudden."

"I'm just thinking about the future."

Keith did a double take. "What prompted that?"

Lance shrugged. "Just things I guess" Things that were sitting next to him and named Keith. "But do you?"

"Not really." Keith furrowed his brow. "There's never been any point in thinking past tomorrow."

"Really? None whatsoever?"

"Nope." Keith got a soft look in his eyes. "Though that's starting to change."

"Oh? Any particular reason why?"

Keith just squeezed his hand. That was all Lance needed. He squeezed back.

They went forward from that day as they always did, but this time with intertwined fingers and a shaky unspoken promise of sharing their time left alive with each other.

The march through time flew by. Before Lance knew it he was shoring up that promise with rings and vows in front of their friends. Then came constant battles with stolen moments of happiness in between the violence. Then the final battle in which both Keith and Lance ended up in the med-bay for new, robotic, body parts ("Kinda wish I could go back in time and tell ten year-old me that being a cyborg is not a fun as the movies say." "I don't think we count Lance." "What do you mean? We're being outfitted with high-tech alien technology replacements for fleshy bits. Of course we count."). And after that...victory.

The universe was free, and with it, the paladins of Voltron to live peaceful lives back home if they so chose. All of them did. Even Allura and Coran adopted Earth as their home. It was where their friends were, and the people of Earth were happy to welcome their protectors.

Life did not slow down for the space ranger partners. There were still nights spent drawing each other out of the past. Nights where they were reminded that the war would always be a presence in their lives. Lance knew they weren't alone, hell the door might as well have been propped open with the amount of people coming and going through their house, so that helped.

But now the children of friends and family who had once trampled through their house had grown up and parents had been buried. There was still time spent with loved ones, but it was fifty years after their first trip to space that Keith and Lance could slow down. Lance looked over at Keith. He was reading a book their niece had recommended, cybernetic eye whirring.

The universe had granted Lance's wish that night. Neither of them were all that good at planning ahead (even after so many years), but for the first time tomorrow wasn't so uncertain. Lance and Keith could walk forward instead of sprint. A nice change, as they were really getting to old for that.

But their interlocking hands stayed the same. Even after all these years. And they would remain for the rest of their long lives together.


End file.
